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John Browett, Apple’s new Senior Vice President of Retail, has been the source of controversy in the Apple retail space as of late. Last month, news broke out that Apple retail store employees were seeing cuts into their work hours, furthermore reducing their paychecks. Other rumors of the sort included the termination of select part-time employees and general store budget cuts. Apple soon responded to these reports by saying that its new Apple retail staffing “formula” will be reversed.

Last night, at Apple’s quarterly meeting for every Apple Store, Browett has the opportunity to intimately address his employees via a video stream. Following the aforementioned controversies, Browett seems to have used this opportunity to rally his troops and share how truly proud he is of Apple’s retail workers.

9to5Mac has received an audio copy of Browett’s transcript from an anonymous source:

“I am truly amazed and impressed by the fantastic service that I see in every store every day. It’s an incredible achievement,” said Browett “we are by far and away the best service-based retailer in the world and you can see it in the stores. It’s just incredibly impressive.”

“It’s all about our people and their delivery of that service. When I’ll be watching people resolving problems in the family room, or selling people their very first Apple device, it’s all done with such a great sense of service and purpose. It’s just fantastic.”

Browett’s statement puts the people who work in Apple retail into context. Following the controversies regarding hour cuts and layoffs, these statements from Browett demonstrate that he truly believes in the people and how important the retail store employees are for Apple’s business.

Apple CEO Tim Cook previously commented on Browett and his aptitude for customer service: “His role isn’t to bring Dixons to Apple, [it’s] to bring Apple to an even higher level of customer service and satisfaction.”

Audio recording:

Browett, in this new recording, demonstrates how important customer service really is: “It is all about service. It is all about getting to every customer, and I know that you’ll make all the efforts which are possible to make that just a fantastic experience,” he said.

Browett’s video shares his experience of visiting a small Apple retail store in Miami, Florida. “Problem is, the store is really much too small for the business which they do,” Browett said, “but the service there is truly fantastic.”

Browett also shares that he has visited 75 Apple retail stores in 10 countries thus far, and he is sorry that he is yet to visit Australia and Japan-based locations.

Browett ends his call to his retail troops by teasing the upcoming Q1 2013. This, of course, is the quarter where Apple will unveil and release a redesigned iPhone, the new iOS 6 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch operating system, smaller iPad, a slew of new Macs, and a series of new iPods.

Q1 is going to be really fun and exciting; it’s going to be kind of crazy from time to time because we’ve got some brilliant stuff coming through. And, I wanted to thank you for you work in doing that really well.

Browett also teases some upcoming retail-based changes:

And, just the other thing to say is that you will see a number of improvements which are coming through, which are going to make it better for the customer and easier for you to do you jobs. And that’s what my job is all about; my job is to make sure that we are constantly improving things and that we find ways to make it better for the customer and easier for you to give that amazing service.

Browett ends by thanking and appreciating all of Apple’s retail employees, and he also once again mentions the upcoming Q1.

So once again, thank you for your efforts. I really appreciate it. It’s a real privilege to be on board. And I’m really looking forward to the results from Q1.

Former Apple retail chief Ron Johnson also sent video messages to stores when he was in charge. However, this video from Browett is notable in that it follows up previous controversy in Apple’s retail segment, it is one of his first, and because it teases upcoming Q1 announcements.

The full transcript:

Hi everyone! This is my second store meeting.

I just wanted to start off with a few observations from my time so far at Apple.

As you all know, I’ve been here just over four months. I’ve seen about 75 stores, and I’ve been to about 10 countries. I’m sorry for those people in Japan and Australia. I will be there shortly so I’ll get your input. I’m really looking forward to that.

The first thing I wanted to say, was, I am truly amazed and impressed by the fantastic service that I see in every store every day. It’s an incredible achievement. We are by far and away the best service-based retailer in the world and you can see it in the stores. It’s just incredibly impressive.

It’s all about our people and their delivery of that service. When I’ll be watching people resolving problems in the family room, or selling people their very first Apple device, it’s all done with such a great sense of service and purpose. It’s just fantastic.

I went down to Lincoln Road in Miami to see Brian and his team, because I’ve heard about this store. I saw their very good service metrics. And you go there and think, how is this possible? It’s a very small and intense store with lots of people from overseas. Problem is, the store is really much too small for the business which they do. But the service there is truly fantastic.

So Brian has actually set up a round table for me, in where I’d go talk to staff about what’s going well and what’s not going well. And again, what really impressed me was that people really understood what we were about. They were working with purpose, and they knew what we were trying to achieve. It was very, very impressive and I just loved it.

Q1 is going to be really fun and exciting; it’s going to be kind of crazy from time to time because we’ve got some brilliant stuff coming through. And, I wanted to thank you for you work in doing that really well.

It is all about service. It is all about getting to every customer, and I know that you’ll make all the efforts which are possible to make that just a fantastic experience.

And, just the other thing to say is that you will see a number of improvements which are coming through, which are going to make it better for the customer and easier for you to do you jobs. And that’s what my job is all about; my job is to make sure that we are constantly improving things and that we find ways to make it better for the customer and easier for you to give that amazing service.

So once again, thank you for your efforts. I really appreciate it.

It’s a real privilege to be on board. And I’m really looking forward to the results from Q1.